yesterday there was a precipitation like ive never seen before...It was white, and was like snow, but it was falling in balls about a quarter inch in diameter...it was not ice, so was not hail...i would describe it as if someone took styrofoam and crumbled it up into its constituent balls...can someone tell me the name of this snow?
2007-11-30 06:52:13 · 11 answers · asked by Kyle 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Weather
if it was falling from the sky, it could have been hail starting to form, could have been to warm
2007-11-30 07:01:05 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Grapple Snow
2016-09-28 11:09:09 · answer #2 · answered by izak 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is called grapple snow.
It is caused by the partial melting of a snow flake that refreezes before reaching the ground. Not too uncommon but not seen in huge amounts or frequently. It will produce this and often the warm layer that is causing the melting will be cooled by evaporation processes and it will change back to snow. There are some cases also where the warm layer rapidly increases and it will change to either sleet or to freezing rain and then to rain.
It is very hard to forecast so that is why you likely will never see the term in a forecast. It is more common to see it in an report.
2007-11-30 11:19:23 · answer #3 · answered by Water 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The "popcorn" snow answer already given is the best one so far - I didn't even realize this type of snow even HAD a name ;););)
It was snowing like that about a week ago here - the flakes were so large and defined that I felt like a kid in kindergarten making cut-out snowflakes...
You could even SEE all six points on the flakes - it looked like it was snowing miniature Stars of David ;););)
2007-11-30 07:07:01 · answer #4 · answered by Captain Canuck 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Just bigger snow flakes. The size of snow depends on the temperature. The colder the temp the smaller and finer the snow. Warmer temps will have bigger flakes up to a half dollar piece some times. It could have been graupel.
2007-11-30 07:37:22 · answer #5 · answered by WR 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I am pretty sure that those are called snow pellets.
2007-11-30 10:21:23 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is often referred to as popcorn snow.
2007-11-30 07:00:46 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
It can be called either graupel or snow pellets.
2007-11-30 09:15:47 · answer #8 · answered by pegminer 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The real name is snow pellets.
2007-11-30 08:07:08 · answer #9 · answered by frigon_p 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
it is weird isn't it. well i can't explain it, but Wikipedia can.
2007-11-30 15:37:36 · answer #10 · answered by Tanner Lea 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋